Balloons in a Basket
by A Gentle Illusion
Summary: Three new students with very odd personalities are transferred to Kaibara High school: A video camera addict, a girl who is never able to decide on the right hair color and another who is never without her laptop. [Chapter 2: Circle Time!]
1. Meet the Girls

**Balloons in a Basket**  
**Chapter One: Meet the Girls  
**_Rank 96 _

"Oh I'm just so excited! Three new students! I hope they're nice," Tohru Honda pondered out loud to the two boys on either side of her.

"They'll probably be a bunch of air heads anyways," Kyou Sohma, the boy with orange hair on the right, muttered darkly.

The other boy ignored this. "I'm sure they'll be kind, Miss Honda," he said, smiling slightly towards the shorter girl. Tohru returned the smile, while Kyou just scoffed.

"C'mon Yuki, Kyou. We should be to class early so we get a chance to talk to them before the bell!" Tohru said optimistically, innocently grabbing both boys' hands and dragging them into the class room. Kyou and Yuki were blushing at this, but they acted as normal as ever when Tohru let go of them.

"See? There not even in here! We didn't have to come in so early!" Kyou said angrily, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Tohru looked hurt by his comment. "Oh... I'm sorry Kyou. I shouldn't have dragged you in here like that..."

Kyou looked put off by this, and scratched his head. "Don't be, okay? Its fine," he grunted, and took his spot.

Soon enough, the bell had rung. Everyone was in their newly assigned seats for the quarter. Well, everyone that is, except for the new students. Everyone was getting a bit impatient, even the teacher. They wanted to know who the transfers were.

At twenty minutes past the bell, the door to the classroom burst open and three girls holding hands burst into the room. One fell to the floor, while the other two walked over her and towards the teacher, panicked looks on their faces.

"We're sorry we're late, Sensei!" a tall girl with extremely long hair and glasses apologized. There was something odd about her bag. It looked as though she had a thin square box in her bag as well as her school stuff.

"Yeah! We got lost on the way here! My dad forgot the way and everything, seeing as we just moved here and all," another girl with blonde hair explained, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

The other girl, who was still on the floor, was laughing nervously to herself, a bit afraid to get off the ground.

"C'mon! Get up!" the blonde said, prodding her friend with her foot.

"S-sorry," she said, laughing nervously before standing up and dusting off her uniform. She took a few steps towards the teacher and gave an apologetic smile, not saying anything.

"It's quite alright. We were getting a bit worried about you three, but you're alright, so all is well and forgiven. I am Mr. Okazaki. Please, introduce yourselves to the class, and then we'll play a little name game," Mr. Okazaki said with a smile, getting a collection of groans from the students. "Oh hush," he said exasperatedly to his pupils. Then he turned and waited for them to introduce themselves.

The girl who had fell spoke first. "Hello. I'm Luci Ariwa," she said with a smile, pushing her bangs of brownish-red to the side of her face. Luci then poked the taller of her two friends.

"I'm Trina Maehata," she said, cradling her bag to her stomach, as if protecting it, or rather, protecting something inside of it. Both girls then turned to look darkly at the third.

"Ugh, fine," she muttered. "I'm Jamie Nagano," she said unenthusiastically to the class.

"Thank you, Miss Nagano. Now, as I point at you, tell your name and something about yourself," Mr. Okazaki suggested. Didn't he know that those games never really worked? They were just a way to make fun of yourself in front of others. Halfway around the room, he got to the Sohma's, Tohru, and her friends. Tohru was first.

"Hi! I'm Tohru Honda. My favorite game to play is Rich Man, Poor Man!" she exclaimed happily, standing up briefly before sitting back down. Yuki was next.

"I'm Yuki Sohma, and I am on the student council." Trina noticed a bunch of girls sitting near him that were ogling at him. She looked at them with a glare. Yuki sat back down, the girls did not stop staring, but Trina moved her gaze to the next person, a girl with black hair that looked rather gothic.

"I am Saki Hanajima, and your waves tell me that you could become a problem," she said monotonously, looking at the three darkly. She didn't stand up either, but no one objected. The three transfers all shivered when she spoke, already creeped out by her.

The next to go was a tough looking blonde. She stood up and gave them a forced smile. "I'm Arisa Uotani, and if you called me Arisa, I'll punch you. It's Uo," she said, before sitting down. No one objected to what she said either. It seemed that most of the class, besides Tohru, Hana, and Yuki, were afraid of her too.

The last to go was a boy with orange hair and an annoyed look on his face. "I'm Kyou Sohma, and I hate leeks," he said shortly before sitting down.

Mr. Okazaki gave a small chuckle and turned to the three new students. "I'll give you your seats now, alright? Trina, you will be seated to the left of Yuki." Trina, still hugging her bag, walked over to her seat and sat down. She gave Yuki a quick glance before setting her bag on her desk. "Luci, you will be seated next to Ms. Uotani." Luci nodded and sat down, giving Uo a smile before taking a pencil and a notebook from her bag. "Ms. Nagano, you will be sitting a seat behind Ms. Ariwa, next to Kyou." Jamie scowled and walked back to her seat in the last row of seat next to Kyou. She growled (yes, she growled) at him before laying her head down on her desk. She already didn't like the orange haired boy.

The rest of class progressed steadily. Every now and then, Mr. Okazaki would ask one of the three girls a question on whether they had learned the material, and they would nod or shake their heads in answer, and he would either explain it to them, or continue teaching.

Finally, at 12:15, the lunch bell rang. Mostly everyone shot out of the classroom, but a few were lagging behind. Tohru Honda, who was eager to talk to the three new students, had stayed behind. Thus, her friends and the two Sohma boys stayed with her. So Tohru's group and the three new students were the only ones left in the classroom at the second bell.

Tohru put on a smile and walked up to them. "Hi! If you remember, my name is Tohru Honda!" she said brightly giving them all a small wave. Uo and Hana were standing on either side of her, and Kyou and Yuki were standing back a bit, bickering over something. The words 'damn rat' and 'stupid cat' were used many times.

"Mmmhmm! I remember. And... You're Uo," Luci said, pointing to Hana. Then she pointed to Uo and said, "And you're Saki, right?"

"No. You got us mixed up. I'm Uo, and that's Saki," Uo corrected.

Luci blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Jamie slapped her friend on the shoulder. "Hey! There's nothing to be sorry about! We're new. NEW! We're aloud to get names wrong, Luc. Okay?"

Luci grinned. "Okay. I know. Hmmm... I'm forgetting something, aren't I?" she pondered, shuffling her feet around. "Oh damn it! That's right! I forgot my camera! Crap!"

Trina and Jamie gave each other significant looks, horrified. "Y-you don't need it now, okay, Luc?" Trina stuttered. She still had her bag protected in her arms.

"I know I don't NEED it, but still! Wouldn't it be nice to have a tape of our first day?" Luci stated, hands on hips, towards her friends.

"NO!" they both shouted together. Luci continued to complain about needing her video camera, when Yuki and a flustered Kyou walked up.

"We should get to lunch," Yuki suggested to them all.

"Oh yes! I almost forgot!" Tohru said, turning towards the three girls. "Would you like to eat with us?"

The other two stopped yelling at Luci long enough to nod cheerfully.

"C'mon! Let's go then. I'm starved," Kyou said, walking towards the door.

"Yes. We wouldn't want any hungry tummies now, would we?" Hana offered in her own creepy way, making Jamie and her friends shiver again.

"Uh... Okay... Well, let's get to lunch then," Trina said, backing slowly away from Hana. She led the way to their lockers as they grabbed their bag lunches.

The large group finally made their way outside to an empty table under a tree. It was Tohru's favorite spot to sit, and she thought it would be kind of her to share it with her three new friends.

"Let's sit here!" Tohru said, pointing towards the table. She ran over to it and sat down, unpacking her lunch.

"We always sit here," Kyou muttered under his breath. None-the-less, he still sat down on the opposite side of the circular table as Tohru, like he normally did. To his dismay, he ended up between two of the new girls- Luci and Jamie.

About halfway through lunch time, Luci and Jamie both looked up from their lunches.

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Jamie asked, her eyes glistening with mischief. Trina immediately looked worried, hoping that no one would tell either of her friends the time for a very good reason.

"It's 12:15, Miss Nagano," Yuki answered solemnly. Trina slapped her forehead as he said this, but she didn't blame him, for how could he know about her friends' ritual?

After exchanging an evil look with each other, Luci and Jamie immediately took out lighters from their pockets. Luci's was orange while Jamie's was red.

"Excuse me Trina, but what exactly are they planning to do with those lighters? I'm not exactly sure that they're allowed," Tohru piped in, looking nervously at the gas-filled objects that the two were wielding. As if on cue, Jamie and Luci flicked on their lighters and started to fight with them.

"I'm afraid it's been like this since we were in tenth grade. Every Monday, halfway through lunch time, they have a lighter fight. Don't ask me why they started it, because it's for a reason that _they_ don't even know." The two were really going at it now. There were sparks flying and a weak sound of metal clashing.

"What's the point?" shouted a nervous Kyou, who was trying to watch them over his shoulder.

"The object NYAA! Is not to HAH! Let your lighter's WOAH! Flame die," explained Jamie through battle cries.

"Yeah HEY! But you have to WATCH IT! Still fight GAH!" Luci added. So far, she had gotten licked by the flame 6 times. It was easy to tell she was loosing.

"HEY! Would you cut it out! You're gonna set me of fire!" Kyou yelled. Just as he said this, Jamie knocked Luci's hand (which had the lit lighter in it) into Kyou's back. Thus, the flame caught on to his shirt. Yes, Kyou was on fire (If you can call having a small segment of your shirt aflame that).

"SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Kyou screeched, jumping up and down.

"STOP, DROP, AND ROLL! STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!" Trina had taken the liberty of shouting this in his ear over and over.

While everyone was spazzing, Yuki remained as calm as ever. He walked over to Kyou, who was rolling over and over again on the ground. With an exasperated sigh, he grabbed Kyou's glass of water and poured it on the small flame that was on the tail of his uniform shirt. Two words were spoken to the orange-top:

"Stupid cat."

"Cat?" Trina pondered, calmly walking back to her seat. She sat back down as if nothing had ever happened.

"OH MY GOD! I _knew _I should have brought my camera today!" Luci interrupted, glaring at Jamie and Trina.

"I would have paid good money to see _that_ on tape again." Jamie gave a wry chuckle after she said this.

"That would have been funny… It seams on one occasion your camera was needed," Trina pondered with a smirk.

"HEY! What about me?" demanded and exasperated (and smoke-surrounded) Kyou.

"You're okay, aren't you?" Jamie asked, though it was more of a statement.

"Uh… well…"

Tohru, who had been watching the whole scenario pass with a blank expression on her face, blinked twice and seemed to come back to life. She turned to the three new transfers and gave a sweet smile. "Would you three like to go to the park with us after school? It would be a nice chance for all of us to get to know each other a little better, don't you think?"

"No! You can't let _her _(he said this word like it was scum) came after she set me on freakin' fire," Kyou protested, pointing to Luci.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Kyou! I should have asked everyone if it was alright before I invited them to come with us anywhere," Tohru blabbered, looking on the verge of tears.

"Nevermind," he grunted. "It's fine. They can come."

"Then we accept," Jamie said with a grin.

"Then I'm bringing my camera, ya know? Just in case," Luci stated firmly. Jamie and Trina simultaneously shook their heads.

So it was settled. The three new girls, who had already made an interesting impression on their classmates, were going to hang out with Tohru Honda and company after school.

**A/N: I hoped you liked it! I had way to much fun torturing my editor Shelley with this. Much like Shigure does to Mi-chan. Go me! My next chapter will be out… as soon as Shelley sets the date (Maybe… -evil grin-). **

Editors note (Shelley): You're so evil! –breaks down crying in a corner-


	2. Circle Time!

**A/N: **Hope you like this since I have absolutely no reviews. Maybe I shouldn't continue then? Please review.

**Disclaimer that was somehow forgotten in the first chapter:** I do not own Fruits Basket or anything related to it! Truthfully, I only own Luci, Trina, and Jamie... and I hardly even own them too!

**Circle Time  
Chapter 2**

After the final school bell had rung, Trina and her friends followed Tohru and the Sohmas up to the park. The sky was a beautiful blue with only a few distorted clouds floating around. The sun shown down on the large lake that sat on the edge of the park, connecting it to the highway.

The troop of teens walked down to a small part of the park that had a few trees shading it. They all sat in a circle, ready to relax in this overall calming atmosphere.

"So, where did you three go to school before this?" Tohru asked with an arched brow.

"Oh, we lived in a town not too far from here," Jamie answered simply, leaning back on her hands with her legs stretched out from underneath her.

"I see." Tohru didn't want to pry any farther than that, so she smiled and looked up at the clouds that were passing ever so slowly.

Luci was sitting cross legged on the ground with her silver video camera up to her eyes, looking through the lens at everyone in the circle. _They all look so…peaceful_, she thought. She had a feeling that there were more to come though. The circle was not quite complete.

Trina was thinking along the same lines. Someone else was coming. There was a gap in the circle between Tohru and Yuki. For a moment, she thought they may have had a fall out, but then she decided that they were too close, too nice to each other, to fight at all.

"How's the student council going for you, Yuki?" Trina asked, breaking the silence. It was making her uncomfortable, even though the others were appreciating it deeply.

Yuki looked up, breaking out of his previous reverie. "Oh. Its fine," he said simply, looking back down at the ground.

Luci was zooming in at anyone who was speaking, and if someone had a rather interesting look on her face that she thought was something that should be caught on camera, she'd zoom in too. When Yuki was talking to Trina, she noticed two figures coming towards them in the distance. A tall one and a short one. _The missing links_, she thought with a small mysterious smile. She zoomed in as far as the camera could, but they still remained unclear.

"Uh… who is Luci focusing on?" Jamie asked, eyes widening a bit. Luci wasn't taking the camera away from whatever it was, and that could _not_ be good.

"I have no idea…" Trina answered, propping herself up with her knees, trying to get a better view.

In less than a minute, it was easy to see what the two boys looked like. The shorter one was blonde with a hat on, and he had a very girlish look to him. A sort of innocence surrounded him. The other boy- the taller one- had white hair with a black undertone. He seemed a bit aloof, but nonetheless determined. He stared straight ahead while the other boy looked around at the scenery.

"Who is _that_?" Luci asked, perking up immediately.

When nobody answered, Luci gave a frustrated huff and continued to film the two.

"TOHRU!" the shorter boy screamed, running towards Tohru. Actually, it was more of a prance.

"Oh! Momeji! Hi!" Tohru said, smiling as he sat next to her. He reached out as if to hug her, but Kyou held him back.

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING YOU STUPID BRAT?" Kyou shouted, hitting Momeji across the back of his head.

"WAAAAAAAH! KYOU'S HITTING ME!" he whined.

"Um, if it's not too impolite of me to ask, why are you two late?" Tohru asked, giving Kyou a 'you probably shouldn't be doing that' look.

"Sorry," the taller boy said with a small, apologetic smile. He said it as if that one word explained everything.

"Oh no, its fine."

"Who are your new friends, Tohru?" Momeji asked, looking at Luci, Trina, and Jamie.

"I'm Trina Maehata," Trina introduced, smiling a little bit. "It's nice to meet you, Momeji."

"I'm Jamie Nagano," Jamie said monotonously, looking up in the trees for a moment before stealing a glance at Kyou.

"And I'm Luci Ariwa," Luci said from behind the camera. She focused on Momeji for a moment before turning the lens towards the other boy, who spoke next.

"I'm Hatsuharu Sohma."

Luci smiled inwardly at this, but she decided to continue to tape the others as well, or it would be evident when others saw a tape that was full of shots of Hatsuharu.

"Hello Yuki," Hatsuharu said, smiling fondly at the silver haired boy whom he had sat next to.

"Hello Haru," Yuki replied, giving him a small smile in return before looking back at the ground in thought.

"Is Momeji a Sohma too?" Luci asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Kyou said darkly, sighing a bit.

"I see. So, you're all cousins, right?" Luci added.

"Yes. Distant cousins, actually," Haru answered to Luci, who nodded in response.

"How old are you three?" Momeji inquired. He decided that Luci looked younger than her other two friends, not too much older than Haru.

"Well, Jamie and I are 17, and Luci is a 16 year old," Trina stated, pointing to the people she was talking about, even when she was talking about herself.

"Shouldn't she be in tenth grade with Momeji and me then?" Hatsuharu inquired, looking oddly at Luci.

"My parents started me in school a year early. But you're right, I should be in tenth grade, but- hey wait! Momeji is in tenth grade?" Luci exclaimed, looking incredulously at Momeji, who seemed so much younger than them all. Momeji nodded and gave her a smile.

"How old did ya think I was?"

"Well… you seemed like you'd still be in middle school," Luci said, blushing a bit. She finally set down her camera; decided that she'd save more of the memory when something interesting or funny happened.

Momeji laughed and said, "No silly. I'm just as old as you and Haru. Hey! That rhymed!" Suddenly, Momeji broke out in song. "_Me and Haru. You and Haru. We and Haru! Everyone's with Haru! La la la la_," Momeji sang. He continued to 'la' until Kyou smacked him in the back of the head again.

"No one and I mean NO ONE wants to hear that _stupid_ song," Kyou said.

"It wasn't that stupid…" Haru said. He was strangely calm.

"You're just saying that because it was about you!" Kyou insisted.

"Um, Kyou… maybe you should stay quiet…" Tohru said meekly, looking a bit afraid of something. She kept sending worried glances towards Haru.

"Oh, you think so, don't you?" Haru said icily.

"Yeah I do! And there's nothing you can say or do to change my mind!" Kyou shouted. (At this point, Luci had her camera back on and was taping each one.)

All of a sudden, something about Haru changed. All three girls noticed it at once. He didn't seem so calm and polite anymore. His fists were clenched and he was glaring at Kyou.

"Is that right now?" Haru said. His white hair was shielding his eyes.

Kyou held his fists up. "Yeah it's right, ya fat cow!"

Haru looked up, and a new look of rage was held in his eyes. "Are ya lookin' for a fight?"

"Since you ran away from out last one, yeah!" Kyou taunted, ready to punch at anytime.

Haru gave a 'hmph' and struck Kyou in the stomach, sending him backwards.

"Holy crap! What happened to this guy?" Luci shouted, spazzing out as she taped the fight.

"B-black Haru," Tohru said, as if it would explain everything.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jamie asked, scooting backwards away from the fight, not tearing her eyes of the two. Jamie was a fighter herself, but she didn't like getting in between strangers' fights. She was known as a bit of a bully at her last school, so she decided she would quit when she came to this one.

"It's kind of a nickname we came up for Haru when he's mad," Yuki said, staying where he was, watching both of the imbeciles tussle.

"Oh," Jamie squeaked, watching as Kyou hammered Haru in the shoulders.

"That's gotta hurt. Maybe I should commentate this… like on those weird Wrestling matches," Luci mused watching through the little side viewer of her digital video camera.

"NO! BAD IDEA!" Trina said, covering Luci's mouth with her hand.

"Hey! I was only thinking!" Luci defended, but with Trina's hand over her mouth, it sounded more like 'Say! Iwus unlee tinking!'

After about ten minutes of the two hammering in on each other, Luci couldn't take it anymore. Both had bloody noses, a couple of bruises, and many cuts (mostly Haru on the cuts thing. Have you seen how long Kyou's nails are?). Luci handed her camera to Jamie, who knew to keep recording if she didn't want to be deaf for a week, and jumped in between Haru and Kyou-

THWACK!

She was just in time to receive a punch meant for Kyou from Haru in the jaw. She flew to the ground and her hands flung out to catch her fall. Kyou and Haru immediately stopped fighting, and everyone turned their heads to Luci. Jamie quickly shut off the camera as she and Trina ran to their friend beside everyone else.

"Are you alright Luci?" Trina kneeled beside her in between Haru and Jamie. Haru looked horrified at what he did, and he stared in disbelief and the girl who he had only said a few sentences to who was know on the ground. The mean glare had vanished the moment his fist made contact with her jaw, and even though he forgot what had happened previously, he knew just what he had done.

"Holy crap Luc! Are you okay?" Jamie said, eyes wide. Usually it was Jamie who got punched or hurt, not Luci. And she knew from experience that Luci didn't take getting hurt very well.

Luci just lay there, facing the ground, supported up with her hands. Her hair veiled her face and she was shaking slightly. She flipped herself over and gave a strained smile to everyone surrounding her. Tears were falling down her cheeks, but she still managed to smile. Wincing, she said, "Its okay you guys, I'm fine. It's just a little scratch," though that was obviously not true. Her cheek was already turning a shade of purplish blue.

"Liar," Kyou said. It was his first word since Haru punched her instead of him. He was mad that she had interfered with their fight. It was between Haru and him! She had no right to interfere, even if it was for their own good. Still, he couldn't help but feel bad that she had to get hurt just for trying to save them from getting hurt any more.

"I'm fine. Okay?" she said gruffly and stood up and walked away from the crowd that was previously gathered around her.

Tohru and Momeji made a move to follow her, but Trina and Jamie held them back. "If you go over there now, she'll get angry. So don't," Trina warned, keeping a tight grip on Momeji's forearm. The two nodded and Jamie turned to the boy who had punched her best friend.

Her face was flushed from anger. She walked up to the boy, who was staring wide-eyed at his hands, as if he couldn't believe that he had hit Luci.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!" she shouted, her hands balled up into fists. "She didn't do anything to hurt you, yet you punched her in the jaw! In fact, she was trying to prevent _you_ from getting hurt!"

"I didn't mean to punch her. She jumped in right when I was going to punch Kyou." Haru was trying to explain something that was true the one of the most stubborn people around. He had a feeling it wouldn't work, but he had to try.

"You could have stopped your punch, stupid! I've been in enough fights to know that!" she screamed. Haru was about to explain again when BAM! Jamie punched him in the gut. Haru curled over in pain and grunted. But eventually he stood back up straight with his hand over his stomach.

"I didn't mean to," mumbled Haru. He pushed past Jamie and jogged over to Luci, who was now standing on the side of the tree that was not visible. Taking a breath, he looked at the back of her head, trying to gather the courage to apologize. "Um… Luci?"

"I told you! I'm fine. Back off," Luci said, not turning around.

"No you're not!" he protested. He forced her to look at him by gently turning her head with his hands. Her cheek was already a nice shade of purple. Haru looked down at the ground, ashamed at what he had done. "Luci… I'm really sorry for hitting you. It was an accident, it was meant for Kyou."

Luci stayed quiet and studied his face, as if trying to figure out if he was lying. But she knew somewhere in her that he wasn't. So she nodded to tell him that she understood.

"You didn't have to stop us from fighting," Haru said sternly, looking at the bruise.

"Too bad. I did. End of story," Luci said, turning away. It was pretty uncomfortable under his gaze. "I just didn't want you two to get hurt any more than you already had, okay?"

Haru smirked. Momeji was going to have a field day with this once he told him. "So you've got a thing for Kyou, huh?" he questioned with a chuckle.

Luci turned back around, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped. "NO! That is the most _repulsive_ idea in the world! How the hell did you come up with that!" she shouted, clenching her fists to stop from hitting him. "Nevermind, I don't want to know." She stopped, pondered it for a moment, and made a gagging noise. "Yuck. You have got nerve saying that to me man…. Yuck yuck yuckie!" Continuing to gag and jump up and down in disgust, Luci walked away from the tree and back to the others, a snickering Haru behind her.

"What'd he do to you! I'll kill him… I swear I will," Jamie said furiously, looking at the two with much skepticism. Trina was holding her back from charging at Haru.

"Jamie, chill, he just apologized and said some… really messed up stuff… Yuck yuck yuck!" She shook her head, attempting to get rid of the ridiculous assumption. "I'll tell you two later, okay?"

"Fine by me," Trina grunted, still trying to hold a fuming Jamie back. Sadly, her focus was lost and Jamie was set free.

The groups outing had ended with a screaming Jamie chasing Haru around the part, cursing him out and hitting him whenever she caught up with him, which was often.


End file.
